

Remarks on the Prints of Human Feet* 229 



Europeans, and the great number of persons, both men of 



science, as well as men of business, who have visited the 

 town of St. Louis since its transfer to the United States, it 

 is not less remarkable that a circumstance so perfectly un- 

 ique among natural objects, should not, ere now, have 

 elicited that notice, which the increasing taste for natural 

 science in this country, appears to claim for it. It is the 

 more to be regretted that this inquiry has been permitted 

 to sleep, until the stone itself containing the^e impressions, 

 having attracted the attention of a religious sect, has been 

 conveyed into a distant part of the country, and there pre- 

 served for purposes, which many are free to declarcj are 

 totally independent ofall scientific considerations. 



''The circumstances of this removal, and the insulated 

 state in which only it can now be seen, leave room fordoubts, 

 respecting its original position atSt. Louis, which no testimo- 

 ny less certain than that of an eye witness of the scene, is 

 calculated completely to remove. It is therefore more with 

 the view of establishing the existence of the facts, than of 

 offering any speculations which may arise from them, that 

 these remarks are commenced ; and I hope sir, the sub- 

 ject may be sufficiently within your recollection, and 

 means of observation, to permit you to state^ in reply, the 

 principal facts and appearances. 



'^ The new and interesting views which this discovery is 

 calculated to suggest in regard to the natural history of 

 stratified rocks, and particularly with reference to the geo- 

 logical age and character of the Mississippi valley, must pre- 

 sent themselves in the most clear and striking manner to 

 those who have been particularly accustomed to reflect up- 

 on these subjects, and will readily occur to you. We in- 

 fer the different eras, and deduce the character of seconda- 

 ry rocks, with considerable certainty, from the foss-il or- 

 ganized bodies which they disclose in the most solid parts. 

 We perceive from the shells, corallines, and other traces 

 of organic structure which are found, that these rocks were 

 once soft and pUable, so as to be capable of admitting these 

 bodies. We point to the fossil trees, and shrubs, and to 

 the beds of mineral coal having vegetable impressions, as 

 ^ividences of the destruction of forests, which once flourish- 

 ed upon the older series of rocks. The bones of the mas- 

 todon, the horns of elks, and the osseous and undecom- 

 posed remains of other large quadrupeds, birds, fish, and 



30 



